Fiery Bonds
by 5557
Summary: A short drabble based on a tumblr request: "Okay, but- One of the paladins having a breakdown and their lion comforting them. I'ma need a fic o' that right quick-like." The Red Lion speaks to Keith.
1. Chapter 1

So this was what dying meant.

Alarms blared as smoke filled the cabin and Keith was trying to shake the spots from his eyes and the metallic tang of blood in his mouth. They wouldn't be able to take another hit like that.

Around him, on every screen warnings flashed and targets flew into vision. There were so many, filling the space around him. There wasn't going to be an escape. Keith coughed from the thick smoke flowing in from the electrical fires in his ship and his vision temporarily blurred. He clung to consciousness, but barely.

Now might be the time to slip away. To let go. He was in pain, and his Lion was damaged. Maybe he'd made the wrong choice. He'd bitten off more than he could chew. Keith laughed a little laugh to himself. His fingers relaxed from the controls. One more hit was all he needed. One more hit and it would be over.

 _Get up._

Keith felt the pulse in his mind. It wasn't just words, it was a force, pushing him.

 _Get up._

He wanted to resist it. He was tired.

 _How dare you. We've come this far._

 _Get up._

Red. Her fiery personality burned at the back of his mind, her temper clawed at his thoughts.

 _I chose you. I gave to you. We've come this far, you and I._

Keith sighed as his vision swam, and a blast of plasma fire glanced off of his failing shields.

 _Get up!_

Keith groaned. His numb body was sliding down in his seat. He was fading away.

 _Fool child! I'd bite your disobedient neck if you were outside me now! I haven't given you my bonded self for nothing! All that I am, all that you are, we are together. And that will not be broken by our foes!_

 _Get up!_

Keith could no longer feel his own breath in his chest. His gasps came as a slow rattle in his ears.

 _Live! I demand it! Fight! I'll not go down shaking and baying in fear! I'll claw and thrash and spit fire until my last! I demand it of you! Fight! Get up!_

Will. Her will was still strong, stronger than ever. She would never give up, not under any odds. That was what Keith loved about her. She would never abandon him, or their cause, no matter how bleak.

 _We will go down fighting. And this enemy will know that we were never theirs to demand submission._

Keith gripped the controls a little harder.

 _We, your chosen bonds, who have seen more than human eyes can see and lived more than human lives can know, we chose your spark._

Keith hauled himself up in the seat as sweeping pain rolled throughout his spent body.

 _I chose your flame of will._

Keith's bayard materialized in his hand.

 _You brought us hope for the future!_

The deafening screech of the alarms filled his ears as another round of plasma fire was headed straight for him.

 _For once in ten thousand years we had a chance! Freedom is within our grasp and I will not stop, I will not lower my head for an instant until our enemies lie torn and helpless before us! I will not let you stop! I will not stop! We will never stop fighting!_

Keith jammed his bayard into the socket and turned it fully, and the cockpit flared with a burst of energy. Guns formed on the outside of his ship and took aim, waiting on the both of them to fire.

 _You, my chosen son; heir to my body, speaker to my soul._

Time seemed to pass in slow motion as blinding light surrounded him.

 _I chose you._

 _And I chose well._


	2. Blue Guardian

This story isn't related to the previous chapter, it's just a very similar request from tumblr I got, so I put them together.

Anonymous asked:

Can you make a short story where Lance is part cat? I don't care how you do it, as long as Lance has cute fluffy ears and purrs. Thank You!

"Am I… dead?" He asked, as bright blue light surrounded him. There was a chill to the air he didn't like, centred around his chest.

And then he looked down.

The scorched wound shocked him, causing his breath to hitch in his throat. And yet, as he stared at it, it didn't hurt.

Blue light was emanating from the wound, and slowly, miraculously, before his very eyes blackened flesh began to turn pink, and blistered skin began to smooth itself.

"My chosen son," the deep, warm voice echoed around him, "I cannot allow it. Not now. Not after all we've done."

"Oh," said Lance.

He tried rolling over, but in his disoriented state he found his body flailing in the lack of gravity. He started to panic, and the wound in his chest ached with sharp, stabbing hurt, until the voice returned, murmuring soft laughter.

"Be still, small one."

Lance tried his best. He held his arms and legs out, arrow-straight, and the world around him slowed from its terrible spin. He chanced another look down. The wound was barely a puckered mark on his chest by now.

"Well now, cubling, that's not so bad, is it?"

"No," he sighed, "I guess not."

Lance looked out at the twinkling stars that filtered into focus, surrounding him in the deep blue twilight ocean.

"Where are we? What's going to happen now?"

The blue light in front of him seemed to coalesce from misty nothingness into shape and form; two bright stars blinked open as eyes and a mouth creased across shining teeth as long, pearly whiskers twitched in front of him.

Two large, steady paws turned into four, and a smooth tail flicked itself into existence as a lion, _his_ lion, took her form, approaching him with a slow deliberation that belied her mischievous nature.

"I believe the others have taken you to safety, now."

"Safety?"

She nodded, nuzzling him as she slipped her massive head under his arms, pressing her heavy brow to his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, my son. You were hurt. It was my fault."

Lance shook his head, pushing the lion off of him enough to stare into her eyes.

"Blue, we're in this together. Everything you choose, I choose. Don't blame yourself."

Her tail flicked back and forth, and her purr took on an agitated note.

"Perhaps in time, I will forgive myself for what was done to you. But for now, I cannot let you go, cubling. It was never supposed to happen like this."

"What?" Lance's heart beat angrily in his chest, "What happened?"

Blue's only answer was a slow, heavy lick to the side of his head, mussing his hair, and causing Lance to squint under her rough, sandpapery tongue.

"I will let the others explain. For now, I wish to guard you more closely. Will you let me watch over you, Lance?"

"I, uh, suppose so. I mean, you're already my ship. Are you-" He looked down at the blue light glowing in his newly healed chest as the spectre of the Blue Lion started to disintegrate and fade in front of him. "Oh. I think I get it now."

He could feel a steady warmth as her light permeated his whole body; an energy returning to his formerly numb limbs. Lance reached up and gingerly traced his fingers across his chest, feeling nothing but smooth brown skin, shivering against the cool air.

He was going to be all right. Blue was watching over him.

Lance's thoughts drifted into nothingness as he slowly floated down, down, back towards reality, gravity and mortal thoughts. He didn't know how, he just knew that everything was going to be all right.

* * *

"Lance? Lance, wake up!" Shiro's voice was over top of him, but that wasn't who Lance saw when he opened his eyes. Allura's worried face was close to his own, hovering over him in the cockpit of his ship.

To his side, Pidge and Hunk were crammed into the dashboard, and he could hear Keith hopping around the back, grumbling and trying to edge his way in to get a good look at him.

Lance found himself laughing helplessly. He felt dizzy. He felt nice.

"Your armor, Lance…" Shiro's voice trailed away and Lance looked down. A jagged, charred hole the size of a dinner plate was missing from the front of his armor, undersuit burned away, leaving his bare chest open to the air.

And yet, not a trace of any wound was visible. As if he were wearing someone else's damaged uniform.

"I can't explain it," said Allura, staring down at him, "Your ship crashed after it was struck. You should-" She paused, but Lance's slight nod pressed her to continue, "You should be dead, Lance."

"Actually," Lance looked around at the faces surrounding him, and the mixture of worry and surprise amongst them, "I feel… kinda fine."

"I can't see! What's going on?" Keith was now trying to shove Shiro out of the way to reach him as Lance sat up from his slouched position in the cockpit seat. Shiro relented after seeming to confirm that there was nothing more he could do, and Keith nearly bowled him over as he tried to retreat and make room. Keith's eyes met Lance's own and his concerned frown turned to wide-eyed shock as he took Lance in.

"What?" ask Lance.

Keith was looking around at everyone else, now.

"Nobody mentioned it?"

Allura brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "We were more concerned with Lance's well-being!"

"But I'm fine!" said Lance, a little more emphatically. He balled up his fist and thumped his chest, hollow thud resonating within him. "Fit as a fiddle!"

As the others stared at him, and Lance's self-consciousness reached a boiling point, he began patting his arms, and legs and ankles curiously, wondering what everyone was staring at him for. He'd survived other scrapes and skirmishes alright, hadn't he?

"I like the- uh-" Hunk seemed lost for words, as he gestured towards his head.

"What?" Lance was touching his face now, wondering if the blast had hit his beautiful cheekbones, or singed his hair. He ran his fingers up, probing his hairline, and wondering with mild confusion why everyone else was so tense and hushed around him.

And then he felt them.

"You have ears," said Keith, incredulously.

Large, fluffy, and definitely not human, the ears stood up straight, parting his short brown hair as Lance ran his fingers along their sensitive edges.

"Well, duh," said Pidge, "He means you have _cat_ ears."


End file.
